Flour beetle in the apartment: how to fight

No one is safe from the appearance of flour beetles on kitchen shelves. This little bug can infest bulk foods in even the cleanest, tidiest kitchen. And although times are not at all what they used to be and there are no strategic reserves on kitchen shelves and pantries for six months in advance, the modern rhythm of life still makes its own adjustments. Cooking is no longer so important; even a small package of cereals or flour or starch can wait for many weeks for its turn to be used. It is for these reasons that small pests can be quite frequent guests in the kitchen.

Flour beetles, or flour beetles, as well as mealworms, are small bugs and their larvae whose habitat is flour, starch, and various cereals. When insects sense danger, they make an unpleasant crunching noise. That is why, and also based on its habitat, this bug got its name.

There are two types of insects: small and large mealworms. They belong to the darkling beetle family and are no more than half a centimeter in size. Adult insects can live in any room, even cold ones; for the development of larvae, warm rooms are needed. It stays at the larval stage for no longer than three weeks. But larvae and adult beetles are afraid of negative temperatures and die when the temperature reaches more than 7 degrees below zero.

Insects are not harmful to people and their health. But the very appearance and fact of existence are not very pleasant. Especially for squeamish people. Insects can also bother pets.

Where can it come from?

The mealworm can't appear out of nowhere. Most often, it gets into apartments along with purchased and already contaminated products, and in the comfortable conditions of warm apartments it begins its active development.

Another way could be attics and dovecotes. During the warm season, the windows are most often slightly open, so getting into the house will not be difficult.

Pests can also come from neighbors, especially if they breed bugs and larvae as bird food.

Ways to fight on your own

If there are small parasites in the kitchen, it will be difficult to completely get rid of them. It is much easier to prevent their appearance. To do this, you need to regularly inspect the shelves and products, thoroughly clean and wash the shelves, as well as the room itself where food products are stored.

It doesn’t matter whether large or small beetles appear on the grocery shelves, the methods of dealing with them will be the same. It should be remembered that pests like wet, stale foods. Therefore, moisture should not be allowed to appear in cabinets. It is also advisable not to buy too many cereals if there are no containers to properly store them.

After the contents of the container have been used, you should not immediately add a new portion of food. The jar or plastic container must be thoroughly washed and dried. This is done in order to destroy the eggs of the beetle, if they are there.

Pests of this species do not like the smell of bay leaves, garlic, chamomile, and lavender. Dried herbs in bags should be placed on shelves to repel insects.

Another interesting way is to place a piece of metal wire, metal caps (for example, from a bottle) or nails on the cabinet shelves. It is important to remember that metal products can rust, so they should not be wet, but only wiped with a dry towel.

If the appearance of flour beetles cannot be avoided, the food will most likely have to be thrown away. The dishes in which the food was stored, as well as the room itself and the furniture, should be washed with a bleach solution.

Of course, you can sort out the grains and sift the flour. But there is no guarantee that there will be no skins left from molting bugs or eggs among the products. Since beetles reproduce quickly, all the work can go down the drain. Therefore, it is best to throw away contaminated cereals or feed them to birds.

You can also carry out disinfection using the traditional method. To do this, cereals and flour need to be calcined in the oven at a temperature above 100 degrees or placed in the freezer for a day. After this disinfection, the products can be eaten. But the properties of the products (mostly flour) may change. And few would risk eating such products.

Therefore, it is necessary to disinfect the entire room:

Bulk products must be thrown away. This also applies to dried fruits and legumes.
All cabinets and surfaces should be thoroughly cleaned with a vinegar solution.
The floor and baseboards should also be disinfected, because beetles can appear there too.
The walls and ceiling also need to be treated.
The entire washing procedure must be repeated after a few hours.

It should be remembered that if not a single beetle is visible throughout the room, this does not mean that it is completely destroyed.There is a possibility that egg clutches will remain invisible due to their small size. To prevent the whole nightmare from repeating itself after a couple of weeks, cleaning with disinfectants must be thorough and repeated.

Fight with the help of specialists

If your own strength is not enough and the flour beetle appears again and again, specialists from the pest control service can quickly and reliably deal with it. Since specialists know the behavior pattern of pests and their biology, they are able to destroy insects, larvae, and even egg laying in one go.

Treatment is carried out with insecticides suitable for use in residential premises. They have no unpleasant odors and do not harm furniture. This type of mealworm control is safe for both people and pets.

Prevention of occurrence

Cereals, flour and all other bulk products should be stored in glass or plastic containers and kept tightly closed.
Cereals stored in fabric bags are easy prey for pests. To protect food, the bags should be boiled in water with salt or soda before use. Lavender oil will also have a repellent smell.
Beetles are repelled by the smell of garlic; you need to keep a few peeled cloves near the grains and change them regularly.

For preventative purposes, products should be reviewed regularly. Particular attention should be paid to semolina, all types of flour, rolled oats, and bran. The small size of beetles and their larvae makes pests ubiquitous. Even a small gap will be enough to lay eggs there or hide during a cabinet inspection.

But even when the bugs have not been seen for a long time, you should not stop using preventive measures. After all, the flour beetle's habitat is diverse; it can easily be brought into the house with shopping.

That is why the shelves and the entire cabinet need to be washed regularly with water with the addition of soda or a vinegar solution. If the grains have spilled, you should vacuum the cabinet, especially the joints and corners. You can also use purchased disinfectants, but be very careful, because the surfaces of the shelves come into contact with food

Fighting flour beetle is not an easy task and requires a lot of time and effort. Therefore, it is much easier to prevent them from appearing on the shelves of the apartment.